Letters: Unpaid school lunches

Unpaid school lunches

While I surely don't want a child to go without food during the school year, the article in the PO about paying off unpaid food bills at Chambersburg Area School District shocked me.

There were several details left out of the article that need to be answered before CASD tries to raise funds to pay off this debt. Did CASD try to collect unpaid debt during the school year? Why would CASD continue to give food to families that will not pay their bill? What is the total amount of debt that CASD has incurred?
The community has just endured a 4.5% increase in our school taxes and now we have to fork out money for more CASD debt. Now, this might sound harsh in the modern "snowflake" world -- but let the child go without a lunch or a breakfast and let them complain to their parents that they were hungry all day long! And, let the food service be cash and carry or pay in advance. No debt would be incurred.
Come on Chambersburg Community - toughen up!

Brian MacWilliams, Chambersburg

Smoking in prison

I wanted to write to let people know that why our state is grappling with a budget short fall, the Governor and the Legislature can save $2 billion over the next 10 years, without cutting a single service to taxpayers. All that they need to do is to stop the sale of tobacco in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

I came upon this startling fact when I began to fight the indoor smoking within the DOC. It happens so frequently, that at SCI Waymart, the DOC recently told a court that they opened the windows every day in all weather to clear out the unauthorized smoking. Suffice it to say, no matter what, all the housing buildings stink of smoke in virtually all of the jails. My complaining led to a sympathetic DOC official telling me of an internal study that shows they would save the $2 billion in medical costs the first 10 years after they stop the smoking.

About 30,000 of the 50,000 inmates smoke regularly. The remaining inmates breath excessive amounts of second-hand smoke, as they are not free to avoid it. The medical costs of all the smoking related ailments are paid 100% by you. Every smoker on Advair, with COPD, heart disease or lung cancer is at your expense. It adds up fast.

So join me in asking DOC Secretary John Wetzel and Governor Wolf why the DOC is the last prison system selling tobacco, and why keeping inmates addicted to nicotine is more important that education or bridge repair.

Karl Rominger, Somerset

Obamacare failure

I hope this is the last letter I write about the failures of Obamacare. First, I do not understand why some people think that a government-run health care system would be good for the American people. If the government cannot run the small VA hospitals properly for our great veterans, what makes them think they will do a better job of the American people, let alone 20% of our economy?

Since Obamacare, our premiums have doubled and deductibles have tripled. Obama not only knew that, but we now find out that it was never intended for Obamacare to work, it was only intended to be a stepping stone to a single-payer system. The Canadians have warned us about the disastrous effect of Obamacare and that is why when they have any serious illness would come to America because of the long wait time they have in Canada.

I think Trump and Congress should let Obamacare run its course and implode on its own. It is close to doing that now, because insurance companies are backing out and soon many people will not have and or will not even be able to find or pay for health insurance. I know Trump is trying to help the American people by passing another health care plan but, I think they need to let Obamacare fail first, then maybe all of America will come together and Congress will pass a plan that will be best for all Americans.

The new plan should only be overseen by the government, but never be run by the government or it will be another fiasco.

Darrell Brechbill, Chambersburg

Trump’s corruption

I recently attended an ethics forum on the topic of “The For-Profit Presidency” with the Maryland State Attorney General, Brian E. Frosh.

His remarks, along with other panel members, focused on the lack of ethics in the Trump Administration and Trump’s disregard for the constitutional requirements concerning the acceptance of presents and emoluments. Emoluments include salaries, payments, earnings and income coming from U.S. or foreign sources other than the salary provided to the president from the United States government.

Instead of divesting himself of his financial interests in hundreds of businesses as previous presidents have done, Trump has “thumbed his nose” at the constitutional requirements and continues to receive a steady stream of compensation from many of his undisclosed business ventures.

Trump benefits monetarily from housing foreign diplomats in his Trump Tower in New York City and the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C. He advertises Mar-a-Lago on the White House website. He has received minimally nine trademarks from China since recognizing China’s “one country recognition” versus his original stance and unexpected call to Taiwan in a separate acknowledgement. He has sold real estate units in New York for millions of dollars to the Saudis and they also pay him for the upkeep of the units. These are just a fraction of his emolument breaches, and the list is lengthy.

The Attorneys General of both the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia now have the power to sue Donald Trump for what they consider to be violations of the anticorruption clauses of the constitution. The allegations are that Trump has accepted millions in payments and benefits from foreign governments. Let us hope that other states will follow suit and that the Republican Party will cease “turning a blind eye” to the corruption of the current administration.